Improvement in ornamental chain-links



- midway between the ends.

UNITED i STATES O PATENT GFFICE. 1

VIRGIL DRAPER, OF NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO OSCAR M. DRAPER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN ORNAMENTAL CHAIN-LINKS.

Specification formi g part of Letters Patent No. 154,026, dated August 11, 1874; application filed June 4, 1874. A

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, VIRGIL DRAPER, of North Attleborough, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ornamental Chain-Links; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure'l is a front view of my improved chain-link. Fig. 2 is a transverse section the members of the link to be referred to.

In the drawings, A represents the chain-link proper, which may be cut from sheet-metal plate, or otherwise made so as to have openings, a c, near the ends, for enabling the link to be connected to other links to forni a chain. For the purpose of giving additional thickness to the link, adding to its effective appearance as an article of ornament, and increasing its strength, I combine with both sides of the link proper, A, raised facings B, which are intended to have chased or enibossed upon their surfaces such ornamental designs as taste may suggest.

The means by which these facings are secured to the link and the article resulting therefrom constitute my invention.

The facings B are made, by preference, with a tongue-piece or spline, d, on their reverse sides, as seen at Fig. 3. This can be conveniently done either by the operationi of swaging the same between dies, or by the operation of rolling the bar from which the facings are to be afterward cut by means of rolls having suitable grooves. Such facings are then to be applied to the sides of the link, as seen at Figs. l and 2, with their tongue` pieces entered into a slit, b, cut through the longitudinal axis of the link; or they may be entered into depressions or mortises formed in the sides of the link. Or, if preferred, the facin gs may have dowel -pins on their backs instead of tongues, and holes in the link may be made instead of a slit or groove, for the Fig. 3 is one of reception of the dowels. Around both the link A and the facings B B, one or more fillets, C, are placed, which are bands of metal, and which may be of any preferred configuration or ornamentation, so long as they can perform the function, when swaged down upon the link and facings, of holding them as by a clasp. The said clasp-fillet should be next swaged or compressed upon each of its sides, whereby the other members composing the link are held firmly together by a compress. If only one fillet is used it should be placed midway between the ends of the link, as shown at Fig. 1 of the drawings.

I prefer to cut out the longitudinal axis of the link A, and make the facings B'witli a tonguepiece, d, to be entered therein, for the reason that itis a convenience in adjusting the position of the facings, and especially because, after the link and facings have been clasped by the fillet, there is no liability of the facings becoming deranged in their position. It is not, however, indispensably necessary that the facings should have their reverse sides tongued or doweled, and the link A be made with a slit'or depression to receive the tongues or dowels. The reverse side of the facings may be fiat instead of tongued, and reliance for holding the same to the link A be-had solely upon the fillet or fillets employed.

What [claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent as an improvement iii the manufacture of chain-links, is-

l. The combination of a slotted or recessed link, A, the tongued facings B B, and the compressed fillets C, substantially as described.

2. The improved chain-link as a whole, composed of a central link, A, with the side facings B B, the link and facings being secured together by a compress fillet, C, substantially as specified.

VIRGIL DRAPER. Witnesses:

O. L. BoswoRrH, JOHN B. GRINNELL. 

